


Start of Something Better

by IAmAwesomeMe



Series: DinLuke slow burn but I also have an actual plot [7]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Asexual Din Djarin, Blindfolds, I go way too in depth on force communications, I go way too in depth on lightsaber techniques, Kissing, M/M, Sparring, an attempt at action was made, light fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:49:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29870805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmAwesomeMe/pseuds/IAmAwesomeMe
Summary: Din and Luke deal with the beginning of their relationship while trying to also deal with everything else the Star Wars universe has to throw at them
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Series: DinLuke slow burn but I also have an actual plot [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121021
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> The next part of the story is a lot of little stories. It's better to have them all in one fic and I will update the chapters as I write them.

Those four words hung in the air. Moff Gideon has escaped.

The blood drained from Din’s face. “I need to get to my son,” he said, under his breath at first. If Gideon has been out for 36 hours his son was in danger, possibly already taken. “I need to get to my son,” he said, louder this time. He turned to Lando. “How long to refuel my ship?”

“An hour or so,” Lando said.

“We should take my ship,” Han said. “It’s faster and it’s ready to go now.”

“We?”

“If he’s going after your son, he’ll find mine. I’m coming with you.”

“So am I,” Luke said.

“Me too,” Leia agreed.

“I need to pick up some things from my ship,” Din said.

“My lightsaber is still in my room,” Luke added.

“Okay, everyone get what they need and meet back at the Falcon in 10 minutes. If you’re late, we’re leaving without you.”

Din nodded as everyone ran in separate directions. Han went straight to the Falcon, getting it started and putting in the co-ordinates for the jump to hyperspace. Leia collected some essentials and went down to meet him. Luke was already there, having retrieved his lightsaber and a few other items.

Din collected his weapons from Razor Crest and put on his jetpack. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He had thought his son was safe with Luke, but Luke was with him and his son was alone and now Gideon was out. He had to stay optimistic. There wasn’t any distress signal sent, so hopefully Grogu was still safe. He took Ille’s half eaten sleeve of cookies with him, holding onto some hope that he would still get to give them to Grogu. He exited his ship, locking it up. He checked the building schematics. The falcon was staying at a port not to far away. He could walk there, but he had a faster solution.

Luke and Leia saw him fly up on his jetpack like an angel of death. He walked like he was ready to crush some Imperials, anger radiating from every inch. “Let’s go,” he said, strutting up the ramp onto the Falcon. Luke and Leia followed him.

They took off. Luke brought his holodeck over to Din, who was siting in the general waiting area. “Here, we’re going to call the camp. See if everyone’s ok.” They answered and it rang. Rang again. On the third ring, Luke said “they might not pick up but that doesn’t mean anything bad. They just might not be in my tent at that moment.” A fourth ring. A fifth. Voicemail.

“Call them again,” Din told him. But Luke was already dialing up the camp. It rang and rang and rang and went to voicemail again. He called them again and again. Din wasn’t going to stop trying. He wasn’t going to leave a voicemail for them to get back to him later. He needed to see his kid. Now.

When someone finally answered, Din let out a huge breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. “Hey, is everything ok at the camp?” Luke asked.

“Everything’s fine here,” the old rebellion officer said.

“Okay, so, some bad news,” Luke said. “Moff Gideon escaped. We think he will try and target Grogu.”

“The green kid?” he asked.

“Yeah, with the big ears” Luke said. “We just need to make sure that you guys are prepared. They might attack the camp.”

“We’ll be on the look out for them,” he said.

“And, can you bring in Grogu? His dad wants to see him.”

“Right away, general.” He left the screen.

Din realized that he hadn’t spoken. “General?”

“My old rank,” Luke explained. He wrapped an arm around Din, trying to comfort him. He had sort of forgotten that they were dating in all the commotion, he realized. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. He’s safe.”

“I know,” Din said, leaning into Luke’s embrace and gently pressing their foreheads together. “It’s just scary, thinking that he might not be.”

Luke squeezed his boyfriend close. “The Falcon is fast. You’ll be holding your kid before you know it.”

“Not if the empire gets there first.”

“That won’t happen,” Luke tried to assure him.

“Yeah,” Din said, not really believing him.

Moments later, the old officer appeared again, this time with Grogu in his arms. Din pulled back from Luke quickly. Luke remembered what Din had said about not telling Grogu yet. He said a quick hello to Grogu and left to let Din talk to her son alone. He found his way to the cockpit and took a seat next to Han.

Han was frowning, his eyebrows knit together. Luke knew what it was, concern for his son. “Hey, we got through to the camp, everyone’s safe. For now, at any rate.”

Han sighed in relief. “Thanks, kid.”

Luke nodded. They stayed there in silence a moment. Both were running through worst case scenarios. If the Empire shows up when they were there, they could fight them off. The camp was built in such a way that no ship can land directly on it, but they could still send bombs down or dark troopers. Luke’s force magic can take care of one and lightsaber could take care of the other but if they tried for a large-scale, full on attack from all sides… Well, Luke was still human. He couldn’t exactly be everywhere at once.

Luke considered that a Jedi and a Mandalorian together could fend off many different enemies at once, even if they were attacking from all sides. He was now fairly certain that Din would stay for a while, wanting to make sure his son was safe and that the danger had passed before even considering leaving, even if only for a short while. But Luke wasn’t sure if the danger would ever pass, not with Moff Gideon. He had heard from Grogu and a bit from Din about all the lengths he had gone to in the past. He had wanted Din to stay with him for a long time, but not like that.

Then there was this troubling prison break. Leia had told him about all the details. Moff Gideon didn’t have any contact with the outside world, not since he came into their custody. The prison that he was in was long-term, no prisoners or guards had left since Gideon came on board, so he couldn’t have snuck his escape plan out like that. And the plan was so specific, the timing so precise, it couldn’t have been concocted beforehand. There was someone else in the empire who had planned the escape. Luke was concerned that, whoever that may be, they might be just as deadly, ruthless, and cunning as Gideon.

Leia arrived in the cockpit. “How long?” she asked.

“A couple hours,” Han said.

Leia heaved a worried sigh. “Tell me when we’re five minutes away, okay.”

Han nodded and Leia went to leave, but Luke stopped her. “Did you see Din out there? How is he holding up?”

“Not so good. Grogu had to get back to class, so they were saying goodbye when I passed through.”

Luke followed Leia out, deciding to go spend time comforting his boyfriend. They waited in the general-purpose area, Luke’s arms around Din as he sat silently, racked with nerves. Leia waited in her and Han’s bedroom. Han kept flying the ship. They were all wrapped up in their own personal thoughts.

When Han gave the five minute warning, everyone rushed to the cockpit. They flew over the camp and Din could see that everything was as it should be. He felt a wave of relief was over him, but then it left as he remembered that they weren’t out of the woods yet. Han landed the Falcon.

Din didn’t even wait for the ramp to be all the way down before jumping off and sprinting down the path to the camp. It was familiar terrain at this point, and he knew every branch and stone from the many times he had walked it.

He burst into the center of the camp. “GROGU!” he screamed.

“Pavilion,” someone said, he wasn’t sure who and he didn’t particularly care. He raced over to the pavilion. He saw Grogu and his heart soared with relief but he didn’t stop running till he held his kid tight. He hugged his son, willing the entire world to fall away.

His son sensed his fear, and after Din calmed down, he pulled back, looking up at his father face, cooing softly.

“It’s okay, little one,” Luke said. He had walked down a little more calmly than his boyfriend. He gave the camp a quick once over, making sure everyone was okay. He made his way to the dining pavilion, placing a comforting hand on Din’s back. Everyone was curious, but left the pavilion so that Din could have this moment alone with his son. Only Luke remained with them, talking Grogu though what had happened since Din was too distraught to do it himself. “We have some bad news for you, though. Remember the bad man who tried to kidnap you? He had the darksaber before your dad got it? He was in prison, but he got out. Your dad is scared that he might come after you. Do you understand?”

Grogu looked back to his dad. He pressed his forehead against his helmet, and sent him a message through the force. It was Din, fighting hard to protect Grogu, taking down Gideon, taking down countless people who wanted to hurt him. Luke smiled. “He’s telling you he’s not scared,” Luke said to Din. “He’s telling you that he’s seen you protect him from Gideon before, and that he’s not scared because he knows you’ll do it again.”

Din smiled softly as he held his son. “I will, kid. I promise you I will.”

Luke stayed there with them a moment. He wanted to join in, hug Grogu and hold Din and tell them that he would fight alongside Din to protect his kid. But there was no way he could do that without Grogu knowing they were together. So he stayed an arm’s length away, wanting from afar.

It was afternoon, and everyone was in various classes. There were four old rebellion officers milling about, but since Luke was back, and Din, Han and Leia were all planning on staying the night it would be a little too crowded. Han and Leia thanked them for their service and sent them on the way as Luke gathered everyone at the campsite. He thought it best to tell them straight out what was happening.

“There’s a man, a dangerous man,” Luke told his students. “He was with the Empire before it fell and has begun to lead them since then. He has tried to capture Grogu multiple times, and though he was fended off every time by Grogu’s brave father,” that might be too much, Luke realized, “we fear he might strike again. I tell you this not to cause fear, but to make sure you know everything that is happening. Do not fall into fear, my young padawans. We are stronger than that.”

He was a good public speaker, Din thought. He was watching from his usual spot, at the mouth of the campfire. He was away from everyone else but still a part of the action. His son was in his lap. He had been extra possessive of Grogu since he came back, holding him close and not wanting to let him go, but Grogu also wanted to be extra close to his dad. Din realized he only felt truly at ease with his son alive in his arms, and was starting to suspect that Grogu didn’t feel safe anywhere else.

He knew that that wasn’t right, that this kind of love, possessive love, was what led people to the dark side. He knew that from talking to Luke about his father. Din tried to tell himself it was only temporary, only because his son’s life had been threatened when Gideon escaped. Things would go back to normal eventually, for him and Grogu. He just needed to hold his son a little tighter for now.

Luke dismissed everyone, and they went back to their studies. He had to check up on everyone, make sure everything was coming along, and checking to make sure everything was okay. Leia had to check on some things with the council, start arranging a search party and trying to fix this. She knew it was pointless, he was long gone, but she had to try.

That left Din and Han to make dinner. They did so silently, mostly. Grogu was in the cooking hut with them, wanting to stay near his father. Han’s son Ben was also going in and out of the tent, occasionally stopping by before going off and playing with his friends.

When they were done, they called everyone to dinner. The dinning hall was packed with all the new guests, but despite the somber reason for their early arrival everyone seemed in happy spirits. Han was joking with them, making them laugh and smile and forget everything else. Again, Din couldn’t help but reluctantly admire him.

After dinner, there was a campfire but Din and Grogu were excused so Din could eat his dinner. When they were finished, they rejoined the campfire that was in full swing, with Han leading everyone in some loud campfire songs.

That night, Din took a while saying good night to Grogu. Luke watched them from afar, again touched by the tenderness between father and son. Grogu went back into his tent, and Din slumped against the wall of the armory. Luke had deja-vu to the first time Din had stayed over. He exited his tent and went up to Din, taking a seat beside him on the grass.

“If you want to stay out here and watch over Grogu all night, I get it,” he said. “What happened today was scary. But I would really like you to spend the night with me.”

Din nodded. “I’m coming,” he promised. “I just need another moment.”

“Take your time,” Luke said, getting up and heading back to his tent. He changed into his pajamas and got ready for bed. Din came in and collapsed on his side of the bed. Luke smiled at the idea that Din would have his own side of the bed, but it was bittersweet because he could see how exhausted Din was.

Instead, he got into bed beside Din, snuggling up beside him, holding him. It was hard to be the big spoon when there was a fairly substantial size difference but Luke managed.

“I don’t…” Din tried to say.

“Don’t what?” Luke prompted.

“Don’t feel like kissing you tonight,” Din confessed.

Luke smiled gently. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Can I still hold you like this?”

“Actually, could I hold you?”

“Sure,” Luke said. They both turned around, so now Din was holding Luke. Luke felt safe in his arms. Some part of him was comforted by the fact that he was holding Luke as tightly as he held Grogu, that maybe he loved Luke as much as he loved Grogu. But Luke knew that wasn’t entirely true. He knew that Din probably just wanted to hold someone and Luke was just the nearest warm body. But Luke tried to cast out those thoughts and focus on the man falling asleep next to him. He smiled, and drifted off to sleep himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Han and Leia decided to stick around another day. Leia liked spending time at the camp if for no other reason than she likes to test the limits of her force powers and this is the only place she can really do that. Luke was the one who really tested his abilities, but Leia still liked to play around with them when she could. Han just kind of hung around the camp, playing with kids and giving them piggyback rides. He seemed to be a camp favorite, with a small gaggle of kids following him around wherever he went. Din’s competitive side took over, and gave a few kids rides on his jetpack. Suddenly the gaggle of kids was following Din around and completely ignoring Han.

“We need to think about getting your ship back,” Leia told Din over lunch.

Din nodded. It was still back at Cloud City. Lando promised nothing was happening to it, but he should bet it soon. “What do you propose?”

“Han, Ben and I could fly you to Cloud City and you could fly your ship back.”

Din considered it. Grogu was siting in his lap, eating his lunch. He didn’t want to leave Gorgu, but he also didn’t think leaving his ship alone on a foreign planet was a good idea. But he didn’t see any other way around it. He supposed that he could bring Grogu with him? But if Grogu was safe at this camp that no one can find than maybe bringing him is a bad idea. Plus, here he would be guarded by Luke, a fierce Jedi warrior. Who would be better at keeping him safe? A Mandalorian or a Jedi? “I don’t know? Can I get back to you on that?”

Leia nodded. After everyone finished their meal, Din and Grogu retired to the cooking hut so Din can eat too. Din was eating his lunch, not really paying attention to what was happening until he heard a very confusing sentence from outside. “Well aren’t you the cutest little Mandalorian I’ve ever seen,” said Han.

Din perked up. That didn’t make any sense. He looked around the cooking hut and realised he couldn’t find Grogu, who was supposed to be next to him eating his cookies. Then he realized he couldn’t find his helmet.

“He’s so adorable,” another student agreed.

Din rushed out of the cleaning hut only to stop himself at the door. He couldn’t go out there without his helmet. “Grogu!” he shouted out. “Grogu get back here!”

Han just laughed. “No, you should stay right there, little buddy. I want Leia to see this, she’s going to love it.”

“Grogu!” Din continued to shout. “Come back and give me my helmet!”

“He clearly doesn’t want to,” Han objected. “Let him have fun!”

“Han, stop that and send him back to me!”

“Okay,” Din could hear Luke coming over. “Okay, hold on.” Luke apprised the situation. He chuckled softly at the site of tiny Grogu’s attempt to wear a helmet as big as he is. He couldn’t get it over his ears so instead of wearing it was sort of balancing it on his head. But it was very big and cumbersome and kept crashing to the ground, taking Grogu with it. It was very cute, but Luke knew how stressed-out Din must be. “Come here, little guy.” He picked up Grogu. “Take one last look everyone, because he’s going back inside.” The half dozen students that had amassed all pouted, but Luke ignored them and stepped up to the cooking hut door. “Din, I’m closing my eyes and coming in. Is that OK?”

“Yeah, sure,” Din said, pulling back the door so that he could let Luke in and still not be seen from anyone outside. Luke stepped in and even Din had to admit, his kid was pretty cute.

Then came a miscommunication. Luke thought that Din was going to take Grogu and put his helmet on right away. What Din actually did was take Grogu, set him down where he was previously sitting and make sure he was safe before putting on his own helmet. As a result, Luke opened his eyes before Din had his helmet on.

His back was turned to Luke, setting Grogu down on his chair, so Luke couldn’t see his face. The only thing Luke could see was his hair. Din always wears his helmet so he had a really bad case of helmet hair but Luke didn’t care. He wanted to run his fingers through that hair, caress it. He wanted that more than he could bear to think.

But then Din started to turn around. Luke closed his eyes quickly, willing his cheeks to not blush and reveal that he had seen something he shouldn’t have and tried his best to act like there was nothing amiss.

“You can open your eyes again,” Din told him, after putting on the helmet.

Luke opened his eyes and made a show of blinking them to adjust to the light, as though he was opening them for the first time. Luckily, Din didn’t suspect a thing. Luke knew that it was a small betrayal to keep something like this hidden from him, but at the same time he had already seen Din’s face so surely seeing his hair wasn’t that big a deal.

“Why did he do that,” Din mumbled, siting back down.

“Han or Grogu,” Luke asked, sitting next to him.

“Both,” Din sighed.

Luke sensed Grogu’s feelings. “He doesn’t want you to go,” Luke told Din. The father perked up at that. “He doesn’t want you to go and he thinks that if he steals your helmet than you can’t leave ever again.”

Din sighed. He knelt down by his son. Luke was once again surprised by how tender he was with Grogu. “You know that I would never leave you for good. I’m always going to come back to you, every time. I promise.” He pressed his forehead against Grogu’s, a gesture that Luke had only begun to understand just how meaningful it was in Mandalorian culture. Grogu smiled, and Din could see that he understood.

He sat back down next to Luke, and pulled Grogu onto his lap to be close to him. Luke casually stroked the back of Grogu’s head. “As for Han,” Luke started as Din groaned, “believe it or not, he does only have the kids best interest at heart. He’s not a bad guy, and I’m sure if you just got to know him-”

“It’s not happening,” Din stated firmly.

“He’s nice once you get to know him,” Luke promised, but Din wasn’t convinced. “Please?” Luke tried his best to plead with Din.

Din looked over at his boyfriend, who’s big, baby blue eyes pleaded with him. He couldn’t help smile. “Maybe,” Din conceded.

Luke’s eyes lit up and he smiled. Din was beginning to realize that Luke could get him to do just about anything he wanted if he looked at him with those baby seal eyes. Din looked down at Grogu, and realized that’s something that the two had in common.

“Well, I suppose I should leave you to finish your meal,” Luke said, getting up and going.

Din removed his helmet once more. Grogu looked up at him, curiously. Din looked back, but couldn’t guess what Grogu was trying to get at. Did Grogu sense that Luke was dating his father? Or just that they cared for each other? Din shook his head and turned back to eating his lunch. He couldn’t think about that now.

When they exited the cooking hut, Luke was waiting for them. He told Din he had to talk to him, and told Grogu to go work on his exercises with the other students. Din followed Luke back to his tent. The second they got in, he started to go through Luke’s closet.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked.

“Looking for a blindfold.” He found a scarf that looked like it should work. He turned around, expecting Luke to look hungry to taste his lips some more, but instead Luke was just confused. “You brought me in here to make out, right?”

Luke realized what had happened. “I actually didn’t. I want to, I really want to, but I actually did originally intend to talk to you.”

“Oh.” Din sat down on the edge of the bed as Luke sat in his desk chair. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You have to go,” Luke told him.

“What?” Din was confused. “Like forever?”

“No, not like that, not at all like that,” Luke assured him. “But you have to take Leia and Han up on their offer to fly you back to Coruscant.” Din was still confused. “Listen, it’s about Grogu. What he just pulled back there? Stealing your helmet so you can’t leave? That’s not okay. Not for a Jedi at any rate. It’s possessive love, the kind that leads to the dark side.”

“The kind the other Jedi warned about,” Din remembered.

“She’s not a Jedi, but yes. It’s the kind of love that led my father to the dark side. We need to encourage compassionate love, the kind that everyone can experience.”

“And how do we do that?”

“You need to go, just for a few hours to get your ship, and come back. Grogu is scared that you won’t, so you have to show him his fears are unfounded. Prove to him that you will always come back and he’ll go back to loving you the way he did before this whole Gideon situation happened.”

Din nodded. He didn’t like the idea of leaving, but Luke was right. And it was only for a short while. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

Luke smiled. Din got up to leave but Luke stopped him. “Is there something else?” Din asked.

“Well, we’re still going to make out, aren’t we?”

-

An hour or so later, Din was talking with Grogu in the armoury. He told them the plan as Han prepped the ship and Leia said goodbye to Luke. “It’s going to be fine,” he said to Grogu. “I promise, I’ll be back before you know it.” Grogu cooed unhappily, but agreed to follow Din back up to the Falcon to see him off.

“I’m going to be back in time for campfire,” Din promised. Grogu nodded, and let go of his hand. Din turned and walked back up the ramp of the Millennium Falcon. Every step hurt him, but he knew it was what’s best for Grogu.

He waited in the general-purpose area, and Leia stayed there with him. Ben played with one of his toys as they talked to each other pleasantly. Din could tell that Leia was trying to sus out if he was a good boyfriend for her brother. Having nothing to hide, and thinking he actually is doing fairly good as a boyfriend so far, he answered her questions and asked his own, trying to get more info on how to be a better boyfriend with Luke. He didn’t really find out anything useful as he already knew most of it. Leia did tell him that there is a long list of very capable fighters that wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if he ever broke Luke’s heart. Din wasn’t worried. For one, he was a Mandalorian. He doubted any of them even could hurt him. For another, he didn’t have any intentions of ever hurting Luke, especially not breaking his heart.

When they arrived, he tried his best to make a bee-line for his ship, but people wanted to talk to him. They had seen how concerned he was over his son and wanted to make sure he was okay. Lando asked him about Luke and the other kids as well, but Leia stepped in to answer his questions and allowed Din to escape.

The Razor Crest was right where he left it. He opened it up, just checking to make sure that everything was in place and that nothing was taken. Everything seemed to be in order, so he made his way up to the cockpit and took off.

His trip back to camp was a lot less nerve-wracking this time. He knew that Grogu was safe, that he was with Luke whom he trusted a lot more to than some old rebellion pilots that he didn’t know. Luke. This was the first moment since they had gotten together that he had really been alone with his thoughts. What did he think about all of this?

Firstly, he liked it. He liked Luke. A lot. And he enjoyed kissing Luke and being with him. He had kind of gotten use to the idea of falling asleep with Luke lying on his chest and didn’t want to go back. He thought about how he couldn’t exactly stay at the camp forever and that he would, eventually, have to leave for his job or his duty as Mand’alor. The idea of staying in his tiny sleeping cabin, alone? It wasn’t a pleasant one.

He did, however, have some concerns. For one, sex. So far, Luke hadn’t really pressured him to do anything, but it was clear from kissing him that Luke had a sex drive. How long can he be content with vaguely grinding against Din’s thigh while they make out? How long until he asks for more? How long until he demands more? These thoughts worried Din because he didn’t know what answer he would be okay with.

And, there was what Luke had said about possessive love. Grogu’s love of Din was what put him at risk of going down a dark path. Din didn’t want to put Luke at risk the same way. Luke said when he talked about his father that he had it under control, but Din wasn’t sure that this was the kind of thing you could control. That was the point, right? That neither Jedis nor anyone else could control love.

All this put a sour taste in Din’s mouth, but then he thought about Luke and he couldn’t help but smile. He smiled every time he thought of Luke, it would seem. He was thankful for the helmet; he didn’t want everyone he was supposed to be intimidating that he was actually really happy. He wasn’t Ille, after all. He had a reputation to maintain.

He landed and walked down to the camp. Well, light jog. It wasn’t as rushed as the last time he arrived at camp but still somewhat rushed. They were all eating, and the kids gave a small cheer when he walked into the dining pavilion. He took a seat at the head of the table next to Luke, putting Grogu in his lap.

“I think they like you,” Luke whispered to him.

“I can’t imagine why,” Din confessed.

“You can’t?” Luke looked Din up and down. His imposing Mandalorian armor, the jetpack on his back, the flamethrower on his wrist, Luke could think of a whole long list of reasons why kids would like him. They hadn’t yet learned to fear Mandalorians, or the reasons why they were hated across the galaxy, so to them he was just a really cool warrior who loved his kid.

The campfire was nice, but not as loud since Han wasn’t there to lead them in song. But Luke told a story and the kids appreciated it. They all went to bed, Grogu last since he and Din said another long goodnight. Luke watched Din and Grogu from the window of his tent. He saw Grogu go into his tent, then Din turned and headed straight for Luke’s tent. Luke smiled, and prepared for Din’s arrival by finding the scarf to use as a blindfold.


	3. Sparring and Sabers

Luke sighed as he saw the razor crest cut through the sky. He walked over to where Grogu and some younger kids were watching in fascination as Sani practiced her lightsaber moves. She was borrowing Luke’s, and was working on deflecting the tiny shots while the blast shield covered her eyes. At the start, she was only deflecting about 50% of the shots, but now she had three different orbs hovering around her and she deflecting every shot.

She was good, Luke noted. She would have to go get the Kyber crystal and other materials for her own lightsaber soon, and Luke wasn’t looking forward to it. You were supposed to do it with your Jedi Master and Luke was the only Jedi Master around. He would have to go with her, but the journey usually lasted two weeks and Luke couldn’t leave his other students on their own for that long. He could tell everyone to go home to their parents for that period but there would still be some kids who didn’t have parents who would have to stay at the camp. He could ask Din to look after them, he guessed. But that all felt like an incomplete solution. He had to think it over some more.

“Grogu?” The child perked up as Luke spoke to him. “I’m going to go and get your father. I’ll be back soon.” Grogu nodded, and turned back to watching Sani.

They had developed a bit of a rhythm in the two months since Luke’s birthday. Din would arrive and Luke would go up to meet him and have a quick make-out session in the privacy of Din’s ship. Then they would walk down together, holding hands but separating before they arrived at the camp.

Din would dot over Grogu for a bit. Today, he went to watch Sani with the other kids. He watched her, analysing her fighting style. She was good. Not quite Luke-level good, not Mandalorian-level good, but still good for her age and background. The one thing he couldn’t figure out is how she did the blindfolded part.

“Is it a trick?” he wondered to himself.

“Is what a trick?” Luke asked him.

“The blast shield. She can still see, right? It’s just a trick.”

“No trick. She’s using the force to sense when the shots are coming and moving to stop them.”

Din whistled, reassessing his first assessment. She was good. No Mandalorian could sense the force that well.

“Surely you’ve done some practicing yourself,” Luke assured him.

Din looked down at the ground. “Actually, no.”

Luke was surprised. “Never?”

“Not never,” Din said. “I’ve gone through some basic forms on my own but not much beyond that.”

“Well, do you want me to help you with it?”

Din looked up at Luke. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Okay then. Sani!” Luke called, jerking her out of her concentration. The orbs fell around her and she tilted the helmet up. “We’re going to need to take one of those.”

“Here,” Sani said, picking one up and tossing it to Luke. “Can we work on getting another one? I want to try it with four.”

“We will. Now, Din.” Din rose and walked to where Luke was waiting for him. The open area was divided in two, half for Din half for Sani. “We’re going to need to cover your visor.” He found a length of fabric that they could use and tied it around Din’s helmet.

“That’s not going to work,” Din said.

“Why not.”

“If my helmet senses that it is being obstructed it automatically changes x-ray or a different filter that it can see through.” He took off the blindfold and handed it back to Luke.

“Oh.” It made sense. But Luke couldn’t help feel it a little bit of an inconvenience. “What if we put a sheet of lead in front of your visor? Would that work?”

“Do you have a sheet of lead on you?” Luke admitted that they didn’t. “Besides, there are filters that can see through it.”

“Is there a way to turn off the display?” a student asked.

“No. I can control the brightness but can’t turn it off. It’s a safety feature.”

“What if we blindfolded you and then put your helmet on?” another asked.

“I think that would create a safety issue,” Luke said. “He would have to walk from the armory to here and back completely blind, as well as walking around.” Luke turned to Din. “What if you just closed your eyes under your helmet? Honor system and all that.”

“Okay,” Din agreed.

“Okay, so here’s what your going to do. The orb goes up, you close your eyes, and try and sense when and where the blasts are going to come. Then just block them.” Luke demonstrated. “If you get hit, it stings a little but it’s fine.” Luke blocked a few shots, not wanting to show up too much. “Here, you go.”

Din stepped up, activating his darksaber. All the kids, even Grogu, gasped when they saw it.

“Cool,” one kid muttered under his breath. The rest of the kids seemed in agreement. Din couldn’t help but look just a bit smug. Let’s see Han top that.

He got into a fighting stance, leveling his darksaber at the orb. “Ready?” Luke asked.

Din closed his eyes tight. “Ready,” he said. He waited there and… nothing happened.

Luke watched what was happening. The orb fired it’s first shot at Din. It hit Din’s beskar and didn’t affect him at all. The orb fired two more shots and both hit and neither landed because of how thick his clothing was. Luke couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” Din was confused. He opened his eyes, and saw the orb shoot but didn’t feel anything. He was too well protected for this exercise. Luke waved his hand and the orb fell. “So, what now?”

“Well, this little guy isn’t going to work, unless you would consider taking off your armor.”

“I’m not.”

“I figured. Sani, you can have this back.” He tossed it back at Sanu and without turning around on interrupting her concentration she used the force to include it in her orbit. “Now, what are we going to do with you?”

“Just shoot him,” Sani said, somewhat annoyed that they are taking away from her concentration. She was trying to focus, here.

Din and Luke looked at each other. “That could work,” Din said.

“I don’t have a blaster,” Luke responded.

“Here, take mine.” Din took his blaster from the holster on his hip.

Luke held it carefully. “Don’t weapons mean something? To Mandalorians, I mean.” Din nodded. “So should I take the fact that you’re giving this to me as meaning something too?”

“It means I trust you.” Din and Luke shared a meaningful glance. If they were in private, Din would have pressed their heads together in a Keldabe kiss. But they weren’t, and they were in front of Grogu so the best they can do is share a look.

“Okay,” Luke said, backing up and aiming the blaster at his boyfriend. “You trust me enough to let me shoot you?”

“Of course,” Din said. “Just try and aim for the beskar.” They were positioned so that Luke was facing the forest, not the kids. If he misfired, no one would get hurt.

“Close your eyes.” Din did as instructed. “Reach out with the force. Sence when a blast is going to hit you and move accordingly.”

Luke aimed carefully, and shot Din straight in the chest. He didn’t move to block it and it hit his shoulder. The shock sent him back. “Are you ok?” Luke asked.

“Fine,” Din said.

“Are you sure?”

“Luke, I’ve been shot at by blasters plenty of times before. I’m fine.”

The fact that Din has been shot at a lot did not sooth Luke in the slightest. But he raised his blaster again. “You ready to go again?”

“Fire away.” He raised his darksaber again.

Luke fired at him a few more times, but he didn’t block any of them. A few more and still, something just wasn’t clicking.

“Ok, break,” Luke said, lowering the blaster and walking towards Din.

“I can do more,” Din told him.

“I know you can, but something isn’t working.”

“Maybe it’s that I’m just not force sensitive?” Din offered.

“That’s not it,” Luke told him.

“How do you know?”

“For one, you are force-sensitive.”

“What!” Din couldn’t believe it. “We’ve been over this, I’m not.”

“You are, but that’s not the issue at hand. The lightsaber should work for you regardless of whether or not you can feel the force.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Luke paused, and had Din raise his sword again. “Do you feel it? The crystal inside it?”

“It’s like it’s vibrating,” Din noticed.

“Exactly. It’s not just a rock, it’s like a living thing. It can feel the force, even if you can’t. And it wants to protect it’s owner, you, so it wants to move to block the shots. But it can’t do that on it’s own so it needs you. Let’s try it again only this time, don’t listen to the force, listen to your lightsaber.”

Luke returned to his mark. He shot Din, but Din missed. He shot again and again Din missed. The third time, Din caught it. He moved his lightsaber just in time for it to absorb the blast. Luke gasped, and smiled. He did it.

The other kids cheered. Sani gave them a dirty look like ‘I’ve been practicing really complex and difficult situations for the last hour and you cheer for that?’ But Luke didn’t care. He was proud of Din.

“Again,” Din said. Luke complied, raising the blaster and firing. Din didn’t block it this time, unfortunately.

They kept practicing. Sani got tired and joined the other kids on the bench, watching Din and Luke train. She was sweating from her workout and drank a bottle of water to rehydrate. Din and Luke trained for another hour or so, and by the end Din could block about 90% of the shots. Not perfect but getting there.

They took a break for dinner, and in his mind Luke was already figuring out a training schedule. Once Din was hitting 100% of the shots, they would try with two blasters on him. Then three. Luke would have to ask Din how many he had back at his ship. He would also have to ask Sani or some other older students to help him by shooting Din. He could only imagine how happy some of his students would be to get an opportunity like that.

But that was only to get him used to handling the lightsaber. Once that was done, the real sparring would begin. Luke and Din going head-to-head, lightsaber to darksaber. Luke could only imagine the possibilities.

He knew Din was a capable warrior. He was a Mandalorian, so that much was evident. But he also knew that he had never really fought with a lightsaber, compared to Luke who knew how to use a lightsaber but didn’t really know how to handle any other kind of weapon. Their fights would be interesting indeed.

He knew that he ought to have these sparing sessions in front of the rest of the camp, to show his kids what lightsaber techniques looked like in action. And he will do that, though a part of him wanted to do it in private so he and Din could use that sparring as a way to introduce more physical aspects into their relationship. Nothing indecent, just a little wrestling. They would tussle, Din’s rough hands grabbing Luke and pining him down. Din would make Luke beg before he let him go, and everytime Luke would have to beg more and more till-

“Master Skywalker,” a student said, jerking Luke out of his daydream. “You have hardly touched your food.

Luke nodded, and went back to eating. Maybe it was better that they weren’t doing it in private. Luke was pretty sure that wasn’t what Din had in mind, and while Luke’s imagination was normally helpful, now it was being a nuisance.

That night, Luke and Din lay in bed. Luke was still blindfolded, resting on Din’s chest as Din played with his hair. It was a hot night, so Luke liked how the beskar cooled his hot cheeks. He was content as he lay in Din’s arms, but Din still had questions from what had happened that day. “What did you mean, earlier today?”

“When?” Luke mumbled, almost half asleep.

“When you said I was force sensitive. You said it like you knew it. Like, for a fact. How?”

“Well, and I don’t want you to get mad, but I tested you.”

“Tested?”

“For force sensitivity. It’s hard to explain but force users can communicate with each other by planting thoughts in each other’s mind. Like, you can send someone a sound or thought or feeling or colour. That’s how Grogu communicates, and that’s what I tried to do with you. I sent you a colour and you said your display glitched out for a second. You can see what I sent so you are force sensitive, even if just a bit.”

“Because my display glitched? That’s nothing.”

“Then let’s try it again. Without the display. I’ll send you something and if you can see it I’m right and if not, you are.”

“Fine.” Luke concentrated, sending him a warm reddish orange, like the colour of a fire. He heard Din give a small gasp, signalling he had received it. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes, it does. It means you can communicate with Grogu.”

This gave Din pause. He had been against the idea of being force sensitive before, he already had so much going on, this just seemed like a headache. But if it meant he could communicate with his son, it was worth a shot. “Go on.”

“This is how Grogu communicates. If you can learn to do it, you can do it with him.” Din still hesitated. “Listen, you don’t have to answer me yet. It’s late and we’re both tired. Just… think about it. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Luke settled back on Din’s chest. Din went back to playing with his hair. Luke could have fallen asleep right then and there, it was so blissful. But, he wanted to do one more thing before that.

_I love you._

He sent the sound of him saying it to Din through the force, along with a rosy warm pink. Din smiled.

“I love you too.”

-

The next say, Din and Luke were working through Luke’s training program. It was hard, since they both also had to run the camp. Din was supposed to free up Luke to work with his more advanced students but now Luke was focusing on him. They could only about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to work on Din. Luke was pleased and not a bit surprised to learn that Din had plenty of blasters. He gave one to Sani and she and Luke both shot at Din at the same time, encouraging his reflexes. Sani couldn’t exactly aim as well as Luke, though. He sometimes shot it at a place where, if Din hadn’t blocked it, it might have done some damage. But he blocked it every time and her aim got better as they continued. By the end of their second session Din had remarkably improved.

The next day, Luke gathered the students together. He ran over basic forms and attack variations. Sani rolled her eyes, she already had these memorized. Din paid close attention. He then dedicating himself to perfecting them.

Usually, he would spend weeks of his life dedicating himself solely to improving these forms and perfecting his techniques. He was used to the Mandalorian training regiment, that usually involved getting up before the sun and going on mile long runs with weights strapped to his back and other grueling activities. But he was a dad and a camp councillor (or whatever his title was here) and had other things to focus on. He couldn’t dedicate himself to this a fully as he wanted. He could only really practice during the campfire, while everyone else was otherwise occupied. Luke admired his dedication. And he was coming along nicely, using his experience with other forms of fighting to inform his monuments.

He had to go away on a job for a few days, and kept on working on his forms the entire time. When he came back, he had all but perfected it.

“Very good,” Luke said, as Din showed him what he had worked on while they were apart. The kids had heard that Luke was going to be ramping up Din’s training, going into the different forms and more challenging techniques. They had all gathered, wanting to see what was going to happen.

“There are 7 basic forms for lightsaber combat,” Luke told him. “There are specialised techniques beyond this but those are very specialised. For now, we will wok on the seven forms. The first form, Shii-Cho, you have already mastered. It’s the basic stances and attacks that you already know.”

“Will I learn the second form next?” Din asked.

“Not necessarily. Everyone starts with the first form, but can move on to any of the remaining six after. You need to find the form that fits you best. The second form, Makashi, focuses on efficiency, with very controlled strikes. It’s best if you have a curved hilt, so perhaps not best for you. Form Three might be better, it’s called soreus and focuses on a strong defence, to block and deflect your opponent’s strikes. It could fit, but then again.” Luke gestured to Din.

“If I have beskar why do I need to focus on blocking?”

“Exactly. Form four is next. It might not be your style either because it has a lot of acrobatics.”

“Acrobatics?”

“My old master Yoda used it. Essentially, he would hop around you, surrounding you. It was like you were being attacked by three enemies instead of one.”

“I see,” Din nodded. “That’s the one that looked like Grogu, right? Will Grogu use form four too?”

“If he wants to. But not until he’s much older. Besides, we’re focusing on you, remember. Form five I think is best. It focuses on dominating the fight with strong counterattacks.”

“That sounds good, but what are the last two?”

“Well, form six requires heavy use of the force. So-”

“Not for me.”

“Precisely. The last form uses emotion a lot, characterised by relentless assault.”

“That sounds like it could work.”

“It’s mainly used by the Sith, who allow their anger and fear to cloud their judgment. They don’t think before striking, they just give into their anger and let that control their strikes.”

Din shook his head. “So, form five.”

“Yeah. I’m also going to teach you form three, just in case you have to protect Grogu or someone else. But form five first.”

They went through the stances before Luke had to attend to his other kids. He left Din to practice. After lunch, he and Din did some sparing. Luke used form three, as that would be best for Din to practise against. He was good, but he wasn’t actually fighting like he should, relying on his other training too much. At one point, he blocked Luke’s attack by holding up his forearm and using his beskar. It blocked Luke’s strike, but wasn’t what he was supposed to do.

The other problem was distance. Lightsaber duels usually had a bit of distance between the two opponents. You didn’t want to get too close to your opponent because then they could get you. But with Din, he could get as close as he wanted since his armor would protect him. He would come in close and Luke would have to step back to create space. That would be useful in a fight but he had to have skills beyond that.

That night, Luke lay awake, trying to figure out how to properly help Din.

“You okay?” Din asked. He was concerned over the way Luke’s mind seemed to be a thousand miles away.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Luke snuggled up to Din. “You don’t want combat and weapon analysis as pillow talk.”

Din paused. “I’m a Mandalorian, that’s literally my favourite subject of conversation.”

Luke smiled. They talked about Din’s progress with the darksaber into the night. Luke fell asleep with thoughts of Din’s fighting techniques swirling around inside his head.

Luke decided to start teaching Din form three. That would help to teach him proper distancing so that he could decide for himself if he wanted to maintain it or not, instead of having improper distance through his other training.

It was coming along well. Din and Luke would spar, but Din would also spar with Sani and some of the older students who were borrowing Luke’s lighsaber. Sani was the best, having chosen the sixth form. Din was thrown around with the force a lot whenever he fought Sani, but he was used to being thrown around.

Luke liked the idea of Din taking over teaching lightsaber techniques. He would have to learn them, but he was pretty sure Din could teach them better than him. He had more experience learning how to fight, he would probably be better at teaching it too. If Din took over the lightsaber side of being a Jedi and he continued with the meditative and force manipulation side of being a Jedi they could make some really well-rounded young Jedis. This could actually turn out ok.


	4. Chapter 4

Luke sighed, sweating under the hot sun. He was back on Tatooine.

He hated it here, he truly hated it. He had spent so long on this planet, yearning to be out there in the big, wide galaxy. Now, after all this time, coming back just felt anti-climactic. The banality of this planet wasn’t the only thing he hated about this trip.

He was going to see Boba Fett, and the last time they met Luke didn’t exactly leave a good impression. But Boba was friends with Din and Luke wanted to be a good boyfriend so he would try and make friends with Boba too.

Han didn’t like this. He said as much when he and Leia arrived to look after the camp. But Luke didn’t really have much of a choice. He couldn’t help feel like he and Din were pulling apart in the last few months.

It had started when he started to train Din. It was nice at first, it gave them something to discuss and bond over. But soon it became the only thing they ever talked about. And the only time they talked about something different was when Luke gave Din force lessons, and those weren’t going well. For one, they only happened at the end of the day when everyone else was asleep. (Din was fine practicing with his lightsaber in front of everyone because he was good at that. He was failing at his force lessons so he wanted those in private.) But since it was so late both he and Din were exhausted and couldn’t concentrate on his force abilities. Luke would have him running exercises, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything. Luke would almost believe he wasn’t force sensitive until he sent Din a force message and Din would be able to get it perfectly. And Din would get mad at himself for not being able to do it and they wouldn’t fight exactly but they wouldn’t not fight. They would just be really curt with each other and annoyed and Luke didn’t realise how much it was affecting them till they went an entire week without kissing each other. Luke tried to stop the force training but Din took that as Luke giving up on him and Luke had to start it up again.

He had to do something, before Din wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. When Din came back from a job with whisperings that Boba had assumed the Hutt throne on Tatooine and had a couple dozen Mandalorians that he had given protection to, Din knew he had to check it out. Because he was Mand’alor, because he was Boba’s friend, because he was just plain curious. Luke suggested he come along too. For emotional support. And because Luke reasoned that maybe some time away, just the two of the, could do some good.

So they were on Tatooine. They had landed in a garage, and Din seemed to know the owner. “Peli, this is Luke,” he introduced. He started looking around her workshop as Luke shook Peli’s hand.

“Luke Skywalker, nice to meet you.”

“Skywalker, that sounds farmiliar.” Luke sighed. More hero of the rebellion banthashit. “Did your folks own a moister farm around these parts?”

Luke sighed again, this time in relief. “Yes, my aunt and uncle. They lived about 40 clicks south from Mos Eisley.”

“Local boy! Glad to be back?”

Luke grimaced. “Not exactly. It’s a big galaxy, and once you see some of it coming home seems like a disappointment.”

Peli nodded. “I get it. Once, I went to the core for my cousin’s birthday-”

“Where’s Ille?” Din interrupted.

“Ille’s here?” Luke asked.

“Ille? You mean the kid?”

“Yeah, the kid. Where is she?” Din was worried.

“I have no idea. She took off a couple weeks after you left.”

“What do you mean took off? Didn’t you look for her?”

“I tried. I got her a room, like you said. After she didn’t show up for a couple days I swung by but her landlord said she left. I asked around but no one’s seen her.”

“You should have called me when she went missing. She’s just a kid.”

“She’s practically an adult. I get wanting to make sure she’s taken care of but if she doesn’t want to accept your help there’s nothing that you can really do.”

Din fumed silently, but knew Peli was right. “It’s going to be okay,” Luke said, placing a comforting hand on Din’s shoulder. “She’s a tough girl, she can handle heself.”

“I know,” Din said, leaning into Luke and gently bringing their foreheads together.

“Now, let’s go see your friend.” Luke took Din by the hand and led him out.

“Watch the ship,” Din called back before leaving with his boyfriend.

-

They arrived at Jabba’s- well, Boba’s now- Boba’s palace. Luke had a black poncho on over the rest of his outfit in order to keep it clean as they drove there on their speeder. He stored it before they went inside, though. He was wearing this outfit for a reason, after all.

They got in no problem. Din was a Mandalorian, and all Mandalorians were welcome at anytime. Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. If Bo-Katan ever stopped by they were instructed to have her go through her family for at least ten minutes in order to prove she was a real Mandalorian before being let inside. Her collogues were instructed to be let in no problem, but only after Bo-Katan was thoroughly annoyed. Luke, however, got the side eye from the gate attendant. Luke assumed that it was just because he was a non-Mandalorian. He would be wrong, but he won’t know that till later.

Then came the stairs down to the throne room. Din had brought his spear with him, as it was valuable for Mandalorians and wanted to show off just a little. He thought it was a good idea, but it did make the hallway a little tighter than he would have like. Not that Din minded, he liked being close to Luke.

Luke barely noticed, too busy remembering the last time he was here. He ran his hand along the wall as he walked down the stairs. There were a few differences. Luke couldn’t hear music down below, but heard talking and other jovial noises. There were also more people than before, as the stairs were lined with them. Din looked at the faces and spotted one that he recognised.

“ _Chakaar’ika_?” Din asked.

The young woman looked up. She had the same dark green vest with a million pockets on, the same sly smile, the same scrunchy in her hair curly black hair. “Mr. Mand’o’leader,” she responded, standing up to greet him.

“Ille!” Luke pulled her close in a hug. “It’s so good to see you? What are you doing here?”

“Umm, petty criminal,” she gestured to herself, “criminal empire,” she gestured around her. “What’s not clicking? Aren’t Jedi’s supposed to be smart?”

“You’re working for Boba?” Din asked.

“Trying to,” Ille rolled her eyes. “I’m still only a junior associate. I have to work my way up but it’s hard. I don't exactly have an in with Boba or any of his crew.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Din said. “I set you up with a nice, legal job. You should have just stayed with Peli.”

“Where I get paid pennies for menial work? I have skills, I should be making more than that. And I can, I just have to pay my dues first.” Din wasn’t happy about this new development. Well, he was happy she was safe but wished she were in a better place. Though, considering how they had first met, this wasn’t exactly a surprise. “Why are you guys here?”

“It’s my job as Mand’alor to check up on Mandalorians. We heard there were some here and wanted to check it out.”

“And why are you here?” Ille turned to Luke.

“I wanted to support my boyfriend,” he smiled.

Ille smiled too. “Boyfriend! I knew you two liked each other!”

“We do,” Luke said, squeezing Din’s hand.

“Tell me everything,” Ille said.

Luke took her by the arm, and they walked down the steps arm in arm, gossiping. This Luke-Ille friendship was beginning to bloom. Luke wasn’t as outwardly fatherly with Ille as Din was, probably because they were closer in age they could be more friendly with each other. Plus, Luke was used to spending a lot of time with younger kids, who didn’t really get Luke’s more adult sense of humor that he has to censor around his younglings. Ille understood him, and he liked her well.

The stairs weren’t big enough for all three to walk beside each other so Din let Luke and Ille go ahead of him and followed from behind. As they approached, Luke and Ille were talking and didn’t notice that the hall below them had suddenly gotten a lot more quiet. Luke was so enthralled in talking to Ille, he didn’t notice the change in the force till it was too late. He reached the bottom step and his spine straightened. He sensed the dark energy of a wolf about to attack it’s prey. “Wait.”

A dozen Mandalorians tackled him all at once, pushing him to the ground. He had just enough time to push Ille out of the way to avoid her getting hurt as they took him down. A Mandalorian caught her, holding her firmly as she struggled to free herself.

“No!” he heard Din shout, but it was pointless. There was nothing he could do as they tried to subdue the Jedi.

Luke sensed their thoughts. They didn’t want to hurt him, only subdue him. That’s why he didn’t try and resist as they handcuffed him behind his back and dragged him to his knees. He allowed himself to be carried over to the middle of the room where he was forced onto his knees in front of the empty throne. Apparently Boba wasn’t in yet.

Din was torn. Every Mandalorian in the place had their blasters leveled at his boyfriend. But his boyfriend looked completely calm, like he had nothing to fear. He looked back at Din, and jerked his head back at Ille, who was still being held by the Mandalorian. It seemed that Luke was more concerned with Din helping her than he was his own safety.

“Give her here,” Din said, trying to take Ille out of his hands.

“She’s a friend of the Jedi’s,” he responded, in Mando’an.

“She’s also my friend,” Din said back in Mando’an, yanking Ille out of his arms. “You okay?” he asked her, back in basic.

“Fine.” She rubbed the place where he had held her a little tighter than he needed to.

Din looked back at Luke. He had to do something, had to help him somehow.

Luke listened carefully to one Mandalorian, on comm with someone. “We got him,” the Mandalorian said. “Took about a dozen of us but we got him.”

“Glad I could warn you. Was it just as the boss said it would be?”

“Yeah, he didn’t suspect a thing.”

Luke recognised the voice at the other end as the person who had allowed them in. Apparently he was supposed to allow Luke entry then warn the rest of the party so they can ambush him and overwhelm him with their numbers. Smart plan.

“Stay back,” Din said, bursting into the tight circle of Mandalorians around Luke. He waved his spear around, trying to create some space. “Stay back all of you.”

The Mandalorians each took a few steps back, surprised to see one of their own kind defending the Jedi in such a manner. “Do you know who this is?” one asked Din.

“I know exactly who this is,” Din told them. “Stay back.” They had created a circle of Mandalorians each with their guns trained on the young Jedi’s head. With his spear, Din was able to create some space but he couldn’t be everywhere at once. If they attacked, he wasn’t sure how long he could hold them off. He looked down at Luke, who didn’t show any signs of discomfort. “How are you so calm?” he asked.

“Because, they’re not going to shoot,” Ille said, appearing at the edge of the circle.

“They are ordered not to shoot?” Din asked.

“No, but they aren’t going to,” Ille clarified, walking into the center of the circle. She looked over everyone and didn’t seem worried in the slightest “See?” She walked up to one of the Mandalorians who had his weapon trained on Luke. She stood in front of it, getting close enough that the blaster was resting on her skin. If he shot, it would go straight through her heart killing her instantly. “He’s not going to shoot.” Her voice dripped with confidence as she smiled slyly at him.

“Ille,” Din warned.

“You should relax, have a drink.” Ille walked over to the table behind the man she was just talking to, picking up the drink that he had been sipping before he joined the circle. “Is this you’re drink? It is, isn’t it.” The Mandalorian kept his concentration on Luke. “Tell you what, keep your blaster trained on my friend there if you’re fine with me drinking this.” The man didn’t move and Ille took a sip.

“Ille!” Din warned again.

“What, he said I could.” She took another sip.

“You underestimate these people’s ability to kill us where we stand.”

“No, you underestimate their intelligence,” she retorted. “They are smart. They know better than to fire their blasters.” That caused a small disturbance in the Mandalorians. What did she mean by that? Why would we be too smart to fire? Ille knew exactly what was happening, and took advantage of this uneasiness. She turned and addressed the Mandalorians.

“I mean, you know who this is, right? That’s why you caught him, because he’s Luke Skywalker. The last jedi. War hero.” She started to slowly walk around Luke and Din, addressing each Mandalorian individually and sipping her drink in the most nonchalant manner. “He’s destroyed one Death Star and survived the destruction of another. You may all be capable warriors; I have no doubt. But you must also acknowledge that he has the highest kill count in the room. Hell, on the planet. Probably the galaxy, save for some old Imperial officers who have yet to face punishment for their crimes. That’s why he was ambushed, because you know you couldn’t take him in a fair fight. That’s why he was tackled by about a dozen of you, because any less and you would have lost.” This caused a lot of uneasiness among the Mandalorians. True, Luke didn’t seem like much, but his reputation well and truly proceeded him. Maybe taking him on isn’t such a good idea.

“Now, I know that right now, handcuffed and on his knees, he couldn’t take on everyone in this room. I estimate he could only take down three quarters before being taken down himself. So you are right, if you get into a fight you won’t necessarily lose your life. That is, one person is guaranteed to be killed, everyone else has a fair shot at surviving. Tell me, who is it that is guaranteed to die?” Ille waited for a response, but it was a rhetorical question. “Whoever shoots first. You join the fight, meh you probably won’t make it but there’s a chance you will. You start the fight? Then you will be the first to go, he will see to this. Your chances of surviving are 25% until you shoot your blaster, then they go down to zero. So, everyone be smart. Everyone make the smart decisions. Don’t shoot first. Don't start a fight you know you won't survive, especially when you don't need to.”

Around her, as if compelled, Mandalorians started to lower their blasters. They were still in attack stances but their blasters weren’t actually pointed directly at Luke. Din looked around in wonder. Somehow, using only her words, little Ille was able to get an entire room full of battle hungry Mandalorians to lower their weapons. All without breaking a sweat. She was really good at working a crowd, getting them on her side.

“Can I have my drink back?” The Mandalorian from the start asked.

Ille quickly gulped down the rest. “What drink?” It was so deadpan and sarcastic it compelled a couple Mandalorians around the room to chuckle. She was even making them laugh?

Din had always been somewhat awkward around people, never rally knowing what to say to them. Ille was the opposite. She could take one look at a person and realize the exact thing she needed to say to put them at ease. She was so natural around people, Din wish she could just follow him around and speak to everyone they came across so he never had to.

The semi-peaceful air that Ille had created was shattered when Boba came in. At the sight of their king, everyone raised their blasters once more. But Din was a lot calmer this time. Ille was right, they wouldn’t shoot. Boba took one look at the Jedi in front of him and took his knife out of it’s sheath. He leveled it at Luke’s throat, and started walking towards him. Din knew their history, and knew that Boba actually would hurt Luke. He leveled his spear across Boba’s chest, stopping him in his track. Boba looked over at him, and recognized him. “Djarin,” he said.

“Fett.”

“ _Ibic gar jeti_?” Boba asked in Madno’an. Luke didn’t know what he said, exactly, but knew they were referring to himself.

Din looked down at Luke, then back up to Boba. “ _Ner cyar’ika_.”

Boba exploded, yelling at Din in rapid fire Mando’an but taking his knife back and no longer aiming it at Luke. Din yelled back in Mando’an, though it looked like he was trying to calm Boba down. Luke had no idea what was happening anymore. He had no idea what Boba asked, or what Din had said to set him off like that.

“Do you know what they’re saying?” he asked Ille.

Ille walked over to where Luke was kneeling and crouched down beside him. “Well, I picked up a little Mando’an since Boba encourages all Mandlaorians to speak it freely. Boba said ‘Ibic gar jeti.” Jeti is Jedi, that much’s obvious. From the phrasing, it sounded like a question. So, he could be asking ‘do you know this Jedi?’ or ‘are you friends with this Jedi?”

“This your Jedi?” Boba interrupted them. He had calmed down enough to correct Ille on her Mando’an.

“Right, then Din responded ‘Ner cyar’ika.’ Ner means mine, or my. So he’s calling you ‘my something.’ Burc’ya means friend so it’s not that.”

“ _Cyar’ika_ is a term of endearment,” Din said, walking over and pulling Luke to his feet. “It means sweetheart. Darling. Beloved.”

Luke’s mind went blank as he tried to focus on what Din had just said. What Din had just done. He had called Luke his beloved. He had said it in front of a room full of Mandalorians who wanted to kill Luke. Luke smiled as wide as he possibly could. “Say it again.”

“ _Cyar’ika_ ,” Din said, wrapping his arms around Luke, pulling him close. Luke smiled even wider, somehow. Din pressed their foreheads together. “ _Cyar’ika_.”

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Boba said, turning to take his seat on the throne. “Why did you come here?”

“I wanted to check on how you’ve been doing,” Din said. “I heard there was a gathering of Mandalorians and I figured it was my duty to see what it was.”

Boba snorted. “Your duty? What do you know of duty? You’ve been Mand’alor for well over a year and have done nothing for it.”

That sent whispers through the room. Mand’alor? Was this new guy who was apparently in love with the Jedi the Mand’alor?

“I know that and I want to do better. Starting with right now.”

“I have spent the past year creating a safe space for Mandalorians to exist in peace. Doing _your_ job. While you were too busy playing house with this _shabuir_.” It was a strong insult.

“Well, I’m here now,” was all Din could say. “And I want to do my duty.”

“I should throw you out.” Boba was angry.

“You can’t,” Ille said. Every head in the room turned to her.

“Who are you?” Boba asked, equal parts enraged and impressed that such a small girl would dare speak up in such a scenario.

“Ille. We haven’t met, not formally at least.” She walked up and reached out to shake hands with Boba. “You picked me out at my audition, you said I had tenacity.”

“I remember you. About ten or so petty criminals wanted in so I had them see if they could steal these tiny gold coins that were on different people around the room. They had 10 minutes, and whoever got the most coins would get in. At the end of the ten minutes, not a single pickpocket had a single coin because she had picked the pickpocket’s pockets. Every single one of them.”

“Aww, you remembered me.” Ille smiled. “Well, I’m also friends with the Mand’alor and his Jedi friend. And you can’t throw them out." Her face fell as she adjusted her tone for the more serious and delicate matter before her. "It’s your duty as a Mandalorian to answer the Mand’alor whenever he calls on you for aid, right?”

Boba considered it, looking back to Din, then to Luke, then back to Din.

“Your Mand’alor is calling on you to provide food and shelter to him and his lover. Are you really going to turn them away?”

Boba turned to Ille. She’s brave for saying what she did. But she’s also right. “Fine,” Boba agreed. He waved his hand and someone came to undo Luke’s bindings. “I suppose we should have a feast tonight. In the Mand’alor’s honor and all that.”

Din smiled. “Thank you.”

“Show them to their room,” Boba instructed. “And you,” Boba pointed to Ille, “you will join us at the feast, won’t you?”

“It would be an honor, sir.”


	5. Chapter 5

Luke and Din made their way back down to the hall for dinner. There was a round table set up for their meal, with around a dozen or so seats around it. Boba took the seat closest to his throne, with Fennec on one side and the Mandalorian Ille was hassling earlier on the other. Din took a seat across from him, better to talk with him. Luke sat to his right. He was expecting Ille to sit next to him too, but she actually sat a few seats to his left, in between Din and Boba but off to the side. It gave her a good view of everything that was happening.

The meal was served, but Din didn’t eat. Every other Mandalorian at the table removed their helmets, but not Din. He felt like the odd man out, but then looked around the room and saw that there were other people with their helmets still on. Seeing it was surprisingly affirming for Din.

Luke was eating, though. He complimented Boba on the food, but Boba only grunted in response. Ille was eating too, though Din found it difficult to hold himself back from reminding her to eat her milk. Din mostly tried to relax, sipping his drink as Boba stared at him.

“How did you get everyone here?” Din asked.

Boba sighed. “Every Mandalorian wants a community. We are meant to be together, not separated across the galaxy. I let people know I was creating a place that was safe for Mandalorians and they came on their own.”

Din nodded. This all made sense, but the way Boba explained it made it seem like he could have done it all along. Din didn’t exactly have a palace with which to keep all the Mandalorians. Well, technically he had a planet, but that planet was uninhabitable. The Empire had mined it for all the beskar it contained, salted the farmlands and killed the wildlife. It was barren, but more than that it was cursed. It had nothing but pain for the Mandalorian people.

Boba began conversing with the Mandalorian to his side, Ille watched their conversation with amusement.

“We’re going to need to double the guards tonight. With the Jedi here, someone might want to attack.”

The guy, was it Boba’s general? The guy nodded. “Or they might attack the Mand’alor.”

Ille snorted. Everyone turned to her, but she tried to compose herself and disguise her smile by drinking from her glass.

“I doubt anyone of import knows he’s Mand’alor, much less would care. He hasn’t exactly been attempting to make a name for himself.”

Din’s face turned scarlet under his helmet.

“Are you really the Mand’alor?” the Mandalorian to Boba’s right asked Din, suspicious.

“I am,” Din said.

“And you have the darksaber?” he asked.

“I do, won it off Moff Gideon.”

“Can I see it?” The Mandalorian was clearly curious and doubtful.

Din took the darksaber off of his belt and handed it to the young Mandalorian. “Careful.”

“It’s big,” he noted. He activated it. “And long too.”

“I bet you’re not used to hearing that,” Ille insinuated.

Luke chocked on the water that he was drinking, then tried to cover up his laughter by pretending it was coughing.

Boba’s Mandalorian did not take what Ille was implying to be fair. Sure, Mandalorians tended to not insult each other with sexual innuendos because sex wasn’t a big part of their culture, but he knew that that wasn’t the case for whatever culture Ille was a part of. “I don’t think you want to insult a Mandalorian like that. We are very easy to anger.”

“I see. Short-tempered?” He nodded. She innocently took a sip of water. “Is that the only thing that’s short?”

The Mandalorian shot out of his seat so fast the chair flew out from behind him. He levelled the still lit darksaber at Ille, but Luke’s greensaber appeared to stop its path. Everyone’s heads turned to look at Luke. He was insanely quick on the draw, something that impressed the Mandalorians. He had retrieved, lit, and moved his lightsaber to block in the time it took the other Mandalorian to swing. He had done all that before anyone else could draw their weapons. Din himself found his hand on his blaster, but not having drawn it in time.

“Stand down, Nial,” Boba said. “She’s just a kid.”

Din could feel Ille wanting to give a sarcastic, antagonistic comment to that, something along the lines of ‘Yeah, Nial, I’m just a kid.’

“ _Chakaar’ika_ , no,” Din warned her, and she held her tongue.

Nial, that was his name, turned of the darksaber and slammed it onto the table angrily. He went to retrieve his chair and Boba tossed the weapon back to Din. Luke, too, sheathed his blade and took his seat once more.

Din looked over at Ille once more. She had remained remarkably cool and collected during the entire attack, he doubted she blinked as he came after her. Then he looked at Luke, who was back to happily eating his dinner. He smiled at Din when he was him looking. It was hard to believe that just moment ago he looked like the fiercest warrior in the galaxy, his face illuminated by the green of his blade. That’s what everyone else was beginning to realize. He may look small, friendly, and non-threatening but he is ready to strike at any given moment.

“ _Chakaar’ika_ , that’s an interesting name,” Boba considered.

“What’s so interesting about it?” Ille asked, concerned.

“ _Chakaar_ means thief, or petty criminal,” Boba explained, “but not in a nice way. It literally translates to ‘grave robber.’”

“Oh.” Ille knit her brows, wondering if she should be insulted.

“But you put _‘ika_ on the end of nicknames to indicate affection,” Boba continued. “He’s calling you a criminal, affectionately.”

“The first time we met, she stole from me,” Din said, partially to explain partially to reminisce. “But the second time we met she gave a pretty entertaining magic show. She’s my friend.”

Boba looked over at Ille. “You know magic?”

“I know slight of hand, a couple card tricks, and some basic hustles and cons,” Ille explained. “I’m not an actual magician, not like someone here.” Ille looked over at Luke.

“I’m not a magician,” Luke clarified. “I’m a Jedi.”

“And Jedis aren’t magicians?”

“Jedi’s are warrior monks tasked with insuring that there is a balance in the force and peace throughout the galaxy,” he said, kind of bored at having to explain it for the thousandth time. “We don’t do magic tricks.”

The rest of the dinner was fairly normal. Ille made some jokes but didn’t try a provoke Nial again. The other Mandalorians laughed, and again Din wondered how she could do that. Boba mostly ate in silence, but Din noticed his shoulders subtly shaking in laughter after Ille said something particularly hilarious. Luke kept trying to make friends and start conversations with the Mandalorians next to him, but they still didn’t like him. They respected him a little more after he defended Ille so well, but they didn’t like him.

Din knew that Mandalorians are slow to trust, but they respect warriors. If they could see Luke training, they would warm up to him. On the other hand, they could take it as a sign of aggression and be even colder towards him. Din would ask Ille for her advice on how to get them to friendlier towards Luke.

This unfriendliness was getting to Luke, Din could tell. Luke tried to act like it didn’t matter, but it did. They weren’t being rude, but they made it clear that they didn’t like Luke, no matter what he said or how friendly he was. Luke was very social, having everyone be cold to him was worst than having them be outright hostile.

That night, Din pulled Ille aside. He wanted to check in n her, make sure everything’s okay. “How are you?” he asked. “How have you been holding up?”

“I’m fine,” Ille said. “Boba is a good boss, all things considered.”

“He’s taking care of you alright? I had hear about the guy who ran this before him.”

Ille rolled her eyes. “Dude, he’s not Jabba. For one, he actually lets us have rooms of our own, no more sleeping on the floor.”

“Jabba made everyone sleep on the floor?”

“Yeah, he did. Plus, Boba has completely outlawed all forms of slavery on this planet and set up shelters to house, feed, and help all of the newly freed people. Plus, he has created a safe space for Mandalorians to come and live in peace. He’s a good boss.”

Din nodded. “And you’re really fine.”

“I’m really fine.”

Din paused. “Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That Boba had set this up. Did you know?”

Ille smiled. “I told you my sources are good.”

“And did you know that there were Mandalorians with him?” Ille nodded again. “Next time, tell me. I’m the Mand’alor, I’m supposed to be looking out for Mandalorians so I should know if there are any large gatherings of them.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Ille tried to apologize. She was worried she did something really wrong.

“It’s ok, really.” Din tried his best to calm her down. “Just let me know the next time.”

Ille nodded. “Will do.”

Din nodded back. “Good.”

Ille waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. “Is there something else?”

“Well, actually, do you see how everyone is being cold with Luke?” Ille nodded. “You’re good with people, do you think you can figure out how to get them to warm up to him? Anything to make them start liking him?”

Ille considered it. “Like what?”

“Well, they value the ability to fight, so maybe showing off Luke in that respect?”

Ille nodded, but had a different approach. “I think it’s all about Boba. He’s the boss so if you win over him others will follow. I like your idea to show off Luke’s fighting ability, but we have to do it right. If we do it wrong, we will end up spooking Boba rather than warming him up. This one’s tricky, give me the night to think about it?”

“Of course,” Din said. “Take your time. And thank you.”

“Your welcome. Good night, Mr. Mand’o’leader.”

“Good night, _chakaar’ika_ ,” Din offered, before returning to his bedchamber. Luke was already in his pyjamas, having retrieved his bag from the speeder and brought it up. They didn’t know how long they were going to stay here, so he brought a few changes of clothes. Din walked over to Luke, putting his hands on the Jedi’s hips. “Hello, _cyar’ika_ ,” he greeted.

Luke turned around. “Hello, you,” he returned, throwing his arms over his boyfriend’s shoulders. “I think I need a pet name for you, since you have one for me.”

“You don’t need one.”

“I want one,” Luke insisted. He started to put on his blindfold as Din brought him over to the bed.

“You can just call me by my name,” Din said, taking off his helmet. He sat on the edge of the bed and Luke sat, straddling Din as they continued to kiss.

“But I want something more than that. What if I called you sweetie? Honey?”

“Don’t you call your students honey?” Din asked, kissing Luke’s chin and jawline as he considered the point.

“Only when I can’t remember their names.” Luke carded his hands through Din’s hair. “What about darling? Or sweetheart?”

Din continued kissing down Luke’s neck. “Both are good.”

“Not as good as cyar’ika.”

“ _Cyar’ika_ ,” Din corrected him.

“Cyar’ika.”

“ _Cyar’ika_.”

“That’s what I said.”

Din shook his head. “You’re not as good at Mando’a as Ille.”

Luke rolled his eyes under his blindfold. “So, I’m not poly-lingual.”

“I don’t think she’s poly-lingual, just has an ear for languages.”

“Whatever. Aren’t we supposed to be kissing?”

“Of course, _cyar’ika_.” Din started kissing him again.

Every inch of Luke’s body tingled as he heard that. He kissed Din back, wanting to show him how much he meant to Luke. Not just today, every day. His life had become so much better since Din had arrived into it. Luke knew that he would never be able to say all that, and that even if he could Din responded to action more than words. Luke wanted to show him, he wanted to show him so badly.

Luke had been wanting to have sex with Din for a while, wanting to show Din how grateful he was to have him in his life. But today his mouth yearned to wrap itself around Din’s dick more than ever before. He knew that Din wasn’t comfortable with sex, though, and knew that he shouldn’t pressure him to do anything and he won’t. But that didn’t stop him thinking about it every time that they are together, and every night that they are apart.

His hips couldn't help buck at the thought, and he could feel Din's armor rub against his dick, making it even harder than before. He groaned, trying to stop himself from progressing further down that path. He knew that Din wouldn't appreciate it, and he didn't want to make his boyfriend uncomfortable. Normally, he could stop himself, but the combination of the heat from Tatooine's twin suns and not having done this in a week made it too much for Luke. He bucked his hips some more, grinding into Din's lap, hoping this might help him stave off doing something more. It didn't, and he only wanted Din more than ever before.

Din could feel Luke’s growing erection. He slowed down the kissing, making it sweeter and more sensual rather than outright sexual, hoping it might ease Luke’s discomfort. It didn’t, and Luke groaned, pulling back, trying to get a hold on himself.

“You alright?” Din asked.

“Fine," Luke tired to assure him, going back to kissing him. He didn't want Din to stop on his account. 

Din tired using his kisses to slow him down again, but again he was having little to no success. Luke's erection pushed against his pant and into Din's armor. Din didn't know what to do. He just wanted to be there for Luke, however he could. 

Luke pulled away again, struggling to breath. "If you need to stop, _cyar'ika_ ," Din offered, but Luke cut him off.

"I don't." He went back to kissing Din, his hips bucking as he grinded into the other man. Then he doubled over, clutching his stomach and pulling away. 

"Luke." Din wanted to help but didn't know how.

"I just need to-” Luke got out of Din’s lap and tried walking briskly towards the bathroom, but he was still blindfolded and banged his shin against the bedframe, causing him to fall, clutching his leg to his chest.

“Luke!” Din quickly grabbed and donned his helmet before turning to his boyfriend, in pain on the floor. He tore off the blindfold. “Luke, are you okay?”

Luke didn’t answer him. He was so embarrassed, he ran straight into the bathroom and locked the door.

He slumped against the wall, trying to get his heartbeat under control. What had he done?

Din knocked at the door. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Luke lied.

Din knew this to be a lie, but didn’t push it. “Is there anything you need?”

“No. I’ll be out in a moment.”

On the other side of the door, Din sighed. He wanted to help so bad, but knew that the only thing he could do was wait for Luke to be ready. “Take your time,” he said.

Inside the bathroom, Luke took a few big breaths. This was a mess, to be sure. He examined his shin, first. That was the simplest problem. It was going to be bruised, but he would be fine in the long run. He was still somewhat erect but after thinking calming thoughts for a few minutes it calmed down. But that didn’t solve his bigger problem, which was what he was going to do about Din.

He tilted his head back, banging it against the wall. How could he have been so stupid and awkward and horny. He needs to get himself under control. Din said he didn’t want that so Luke had to respect that. And Luke did, but sometimes it was hard because he wanted Din so much.

He tilted his head back again, banging his head once more. He should stop that. Din would get worried and might ask to come in again. Luke sighed. Din was just waiting out there, being patient and perfect when Luke was in here, being awkward and definitely not as patient as he should. Luke had to go out and meet him, had to face him, but desperately wanted to just melt into the wall and disappear.

But he didn’t. No mater how long he stayed there, he wouldn’t. Instead, he got up and went over to the sink, splashing some cold water on his face. Tatooine was a hot planet, plus his cheeks were burning thinking about how he had acted, so he was grateful to be cooled off somewhat. He held his head in his hands for a moment, before toweling off.

He paused before the door, composing himself, then went back into the bedroom. Din was sitting on the bed, leaning against the backboard, his legs stretched out before him. Luke knew that he should focus on more important things, but he couldn’t help realize that Mandalorians never took off their boots to sleep.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Din asked.

Luke sighed. “I think I just want to go to sleep.”

Din nodded, and adjusted himself as Luke got into bed beside him. Luke lay on his side, facing away from Din, and pulled the blanket over his shoulders. Din brought himself close to Luke, wrapping an arm around him. “I still think we should, at some point, talk about it. So, whenever you’re ready, I’m right here.”

Shit. He was perfect. Luke was being an awkward idiot and he was being the perfect boyfriend. Luke turned onto his back so he could face Din. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“You really don’t need to apologize for anything,” Din said.

“Yes, I do,” Luke tried to insist.

“Okay then, what are you apologizing for?” Din asked. Luke searched his mind but couldn’t find an answer. “See, you have nothing to apologize for.” Luke sighed. “You do this all the time, you know. Say your sorry when you haven’t done anything at all, much less anything wrong.”

“Well, what am I supposed to say?” Luke asked, somewhat angrily. Then he calmed down.

“What do you want to say?” Din asked.

“I guess I want to say… I love you. I really do. And this whole abstinence thing is kind of hard but I want to do it because I want to be with you.”

Din smiled under his helmet. “I want to be with you too.” Luke smiled up at him, but Din faltered. “But I don’t want you to have to do something that’s difficult. If you really want to have sex, we should.”

“And ask you to give up on thousands of years of Mandalorian tradition? I can’t ask that of you.”

Din didn’t like this. “I don’t actually know how many people still follow the old ways. And I certainly don’t know if I _should_. I mean, I can’t imagine we should continue like this if it causes this much stress for you.”

“It doesn’t-” Luke tried to object.

“It does. Don’t try and lie to me.”

They sat there in silence. “Let’s just drop it,” Luke finally said.

“Luke,” Din began object, but was interrupted.

“We aren’t going to do or solve anything tonight, might as well get some sleep and speak more on it in the morning.”

“Fine,” Din said. They settled into their usual position. Din was on his back, with Luke on his side, leaning into Din so much he was practically on his stomach. One of Din’s hands was cradling Luke head, sometimes softly stroking his hair, other times just holding him close. Din’s other arm was around Luke’s waist, pulling him close.

Luke tried to get to sleep, but his mind was still racing. He had no idea what had just happened, or what it meant. He sensed Din’s mind. He was also wide awake. Luke sighed. Maybe he was wrong to stop the conversation, he had heard from both Leia and Han multiple times over to never go to bed angry. That was hard for Leia, since she was a very angry person, so Han had said that he redoes the saying to mean never let your spouse go to bed angry _at you_. If he hadn’t added the last bit, he doubted he would ever sleep.

He wasn’t angry, exactly, and nor was Din. But there was an air about the room that wasn’t exactly easy. They still had much to discuss. But Luke had no idea what to do or say or how to start. Well, he realised there was one very clear question that was pressing his mind.

“Din?” he asked. He could sense Din’s relief at being able to talk again. “Why is this only a problem for me?”

“What?”

Luke broke out of Din’s grip, turning himself over and propping himself up so he could look Din in the eyes. “Like, it sems that I’m the only one who’s having a hard time not having sex. Why aren’t you suffering as much as I am?”

Din thought about it. “I don’t know.”

“Well, do you want to have sex? Like, regardless of whatever Mandalorian culture has to say, if it was just you and me, would you want to have sex?”

Din paused. “Yes?”

“You can say no, it’s okay.”

“Then, no. Listen, I love you, and I really want to be with you, but when I’m picturing our perfect relationship with everything I want, sex just doesn’t really figure into it.”

“You don’t experience sexual attraction,” Luke was beginning to realize. He had meet a few people like Din, during his time crossing the galaxy.

“No.” Din sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Luke smiled at Din. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You’re you and I love you no matter what.” Luke could sense Din smiling back, as he pulled Luke up to press their foreheads together. That got Luke thinking. “One question, though. Is this a you thing or a Mandalorian thing? Like, do other Mandalorians experience sexual attraction or are they all like you?”

Din considered it. “Yes? No? I have no idea. I’ll see if I can ask them tomorrow.”

Luke settled back into Din’s arms, this time finding sleep a significantly less strange concept.

“What does this mean?” Din asked. “For us, for sex?”

“Tomorrow,” Luke said. He was honestly pretty tired.

“Tomorrow,” Din repeated.

The two of them drifted off to sleep, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it's not already apparent, Din is asexual. He just is, and in my opinion there's not nearly enough ace!Din content in this fandom, so I will be creating some. Yes, they will also be having sex (because attraction doesn't always equal action) but that won't be till later.


End file.
